American Express Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Luxury Card is finally here, with a 100K signup bonus. Our review is now alive. The card is totally worth keeping after the first year thanks to the annual $300 Marriott credits and the free night capped at 50K points level. For your information, the new Marriott program has 8 redemption categories, and 50K points are required for a Category 6 standard awards night. We have also updated the High-end Credit Card Comparison, as well as quite a few related reviews.
The Facts
The Math
First of all, the effective annual fee of Amex SPG Luxury Card is very reasonable at $150 after considering the easy-to-use $300 annual Marriott credits. With that, you receive several valuable perks including the 50k-point free night, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and Priority Pass Select membership.
Even though Marriott points are probably our favorite frequent traveler currency (thanks to Marriott's decision of keeping SPG's best feature), the earning rate of 2x points in the general spending category offered by this card (as well as any other Marriott credit cards) is not that impressive, especially compared to the old Amex SPG which technically returned 3x Marriott points for general spending. Our current valuation of Marriott points is 0.75 cent a piece, which means that this card returns 1.5%, 2.3%, 4.5% travel rewards for the 2x, 3x, and 6x categories, respectively. For general spending, you might want to consider a 2% cashback card without annual fees (such as Citi Double Cash) or a miles credit card with potential higher return such as Amex EveryDay Preferred (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you have at least 30 transactions per month) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you pair it with Chase Sapphire Reserve or similar premium UR cards). The bottom line is that we won't recommend this card for spending, probably except for purchases at Marriott hotels. In this way, this card is considered a great "drawer card". How about spending $75K to get the lucrative Marriott Platinum status? Let's use 2% cashback as the benchmark - your "complimentary" Marriott Platinum essentially costs you $75,000 x (2% -1.5%), i.e., $375 per year. This may be reasonable for some travelers but probably not for most.
Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex SPG: the effective annual fee on the SPG Luxury Card is only $55 more than the lower-tier SPG Card. With that, you get a 50K-point free night instead of a 35K-point free night, Marriott Gold for free instead of spending $35K, the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, as well as Priority Pass Select membership, Premium Roadside Assistance, etc. It is almost a no-brainer to pick the more expensive card as long as you stay at least a few nights at Marriott portfolio hotels.
Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex Hilton Aspire: As the flagship credit card in each of their program, each card carries a $450 annual fee and offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited access for you plus two. How do they compete with each other? Let's first compare the annual statement credits - SPG Luxury offers $300 for any Marriott portfolio hotel purchases, while Hilton Aspire offers $250 for airline incidentals plus $250 for Hilton portfolio resorts; obviously, SPG's credits are easier to use, but Hilton's total credits are $200 more - considering both the absolute value and how easy to use, we call it a draw. Secondly, let's look at the annual free nights - Hilton Aspire wins this one as the annual free weekend night can be redeemed at any Hilton portfolio hotels, while SPG Luxury's free night is capped at 50K-point properties (a top-tier hotel requires 70K-100K). Thirdly, Hilton Aspire's complimentary Diamond status again blows SPG Luxury's complimentary Gold status out of water. Marriott Platinum status will be a good match of Hilton Diamond status, but it does require a whooping $75K annual spending on the card. Lastly, while we don't recommend either card for general spending, charging the hotel purchases to either card does make sense and the value actually compares well - Hilton Aspire's 14x points (5.6% cash equivalent return in our book) vs. SPG Luxury 6x points (4.5% in our book and offering more flexibility due to the valuable airline miles transfer). In general, Amex Hilton Aspire packs more value in our opinion, but which to pick actually heavily depends on which frequent guest program you are more loyal to.
To see how Amex SPG Luxury Card competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex SPG Luxury, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Amex SPG Luxury, with the annual $300 Marriott credits and the anniversary free night, is such a great card to keep without ever spending a dime on, even for travelers that only stay at Marriott portfolio hotels just a few times a year. For travelers that frequent Marriott, this card's 6x points on Marriott purchases, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, are all worth looking into. It is currently rated as one of Best Credit Cards for Perks.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $450
- Signup Bonus: 100,000 points after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening. The welcome offer is not available to applicants who have or have had this card. Effective 8/26/18, welcome offer is not available to applicants who (i) have or have had JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card in the last 30 days, (ii) have acquired Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card, Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card, or Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Business Card in the last 90 days, or (iii) received a welcome or upgrade offer for Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card, Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card, or Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Business Card in the last 24 months. Historical best bonus: 100,000 points since introduced in August 2018.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 6x Marriott portfolio hotels, 3x U.S. restaurants and airfare, and 2x everywhere else.
- Best Use of Marriott points: (1) You may redeem points for hotel stays or upgrades at over 6,500 Marriott portfolio hotels worldwide, including Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, EDITION, W Hotels, Marriott, Renaissance, Delta, Gaylord, Autograph Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels, Courtyard, AC Hotels, Fairfield, SpringHill Suites, Protea, Moxy, Four Points, element, aloft, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Marriott Executive Apartments, and Marriott Vacation Club. (2) You may transfer points into airline miles of 30+ frequent flyer programs, mostly at 3:1 ratio. If you transfer 60,000 points in a bulk you will get 5,000 miles as a bonus (60K points = 25 miles). Please see our review on Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR for details of the programs that allow frequent flyer miles transfer. (3) You may also redeem points for Marriott Hotel+Air Travel Packages - you exchange a certain number of Marriott points for a certain number of frequent flyer miles plus a 7-night certificate for a Marriott portfolio hotel at a certain redemption level. Generally, the new Travel Packages represent devaluation from the old Travel Packages before August 2018 - you save some points when use this option, but in our opinion most of the time the saving is not big enough for the hassle of finding a single hotel to stay seven nights in a row.
- Marriott Benefits: (1) Annual $300 statement credits towards purchases at Marriott portfolio hotels each membership year. (2) An annual free night at any Marriott portfolio hotels with a redemption level of 50,000 points or less upon each cardmember anniversary after you renew the card (the e-certificate expires 12 months after issuance). (3) Complimentary Marriott Gold Elite status, the third tier status in the combined Marriott loyalty program effective August 2018. Normally achieved by staying at least 25 nights per year, Marriott Gold doesn't offer much but at least is better than nothing. (4) Upgrade to Marriott Platinum Elite status, the second tier status, after you spend at least $75,000 in a calendar year. Marriott Platinum, normally achieved by staying at least 50 nights per year and offering lounge access/free breakfasts and upgrades to a suite, is the real deal; however, spending $75K is quite a requirement. (5) Coming 2019, 15 night credits toward elite status each calendar year. (6) Free premium internet access at Marriott portfolio hotels.
- Other Benefits: (1) Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide for you plus two guests. (2) Reimbursement for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application fees every four years. (3) Waived foreign transaction fees, with an embedded EMV chip. (4) Amex 24/7 Concierge Service. (5) Amex Offers - you receive savings in form of statement credit or earn bonus points on select merchants when using your Amex card; you need to manually add an offer to your Amex card to be eligible for savings or bonus, and unlike other savings/bonus programs, you don't need to shop through a certain portal. (6) ShopRunner membership for free 2-day shipping with select merchants. (7) Entertainment Access including American Express Presale, American Express Preferred Seating, and Premium Access (dining access). (8) Unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi plan. (9) Premium Roadside Assistance - while most credit card's roadside assistance service only dispatches a provider and you have to pay for the actual charge, Amex Hilton Aspire is among the very few cards that cover towing up to 10 miles and other incidental charges, up to 4 times in a calendar year, regardless of how far you are away from home.
- History: with the merger of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs in August 2018, Amex introduced the SPG Luxury Card as the flagship credit card in the combined loyalty program.
The Math
First of all, the effective annual fee of Amex SPG Luxury Card is very reasonable at $150 after considering the easy-to-use $300 annual Marriott credits. With that, you receive several valuable perks including the 50k-point free night, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and Priority Pass Select membership.
Even though Marriott points are probably our favorite frequent traveler currency (thanks to Marriott's decision of keeping SPG's best feature), the earning rate of 2x points in the general spending category offered by this card (as well as any other Marriott credit cards) is not that impressive, especially compared to the old Amex SPG which technically returned 3x Marriott points for general spending. Our current valuation of Marriott points is 0.75 cent a piece, which means that this card returns 1.5%, 2.3%, 4.5% travel rewards for the 2x, 3x, and 6x categories, respectively. For general spending, you might want to consider a 2% cashback card without annual fees (such as Citi Double Cash) or a miles credit card with potential higher return such as Amex EveryDay Preferred (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you have at least 30 transactions per month) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you pair it with Chase Sapphire Reserve or similar premium UR cards). The bottom line is that we won't recommend this card for spending, probably except for purchases at Marriott hotels. In this way, this card is considered a great "drawer card". How about spending $75K to get the lucrative Marriott Platinum status? Let's use 2% cashback as the benchmark - your "complimentary" Marriott Platinum essentially costs you $75,000 x (2% -1.5%), i.e., $375 per year. This may be reasonable for some travelers but probably not for most.
Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex SPG: the effective annual fee on the SPG Luxury Card is only $55 more than the lower-tier SPG Card. With that, you get a 50K-point free night instead of a 35K-point free night, Marriott Gold for free instead of spending $35K, the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, as well as Priority Pass Select membership, Premium Roadside Assistance, etc. It is almost a no-brainer to pick the more expensive card as long as you stay at least a few nights at Marriott portfolio hotels.
Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex Hilton Aspire: As the flagship credit card in each of their program, each card carries a $450 annual fee and offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited access for you plus two. How do they compete with each other? Let's first compare the annual statement credits - SPG Luxury offers $300 for any Marriott portfolio hotel purchases, while Hilton Aspire offers $250 for airline incidentals plus $250 for Hilton portfolio resorts; obviously, SPG's credits are easier to use, but Hilton's total credits are $200 more - considering both the absolute value and how easy to use, we call it a draw. Secondly, let's look at the annual free nights - Hilton Aspire wins this one as the annual free weekend night can be redeemed at any Hilton portfolio hotels, while SPG Luxury's free night is capped at 50K-point properties (a top-tier hotel requires 70K-100K). Thirdly, Hilton Aspire's complimentary Diamond status again blows SPG Luxury's complimentary Gold status out of water. Marriott Platinum status will be a good match of Hilton Diamond status, but it does require a whooping $75K annual spending on the card. Lastly, while we don't recommend either card for general spending, charging the hotel purchases to either card does make sense and the value actually compares well - Hilton Aspire's 14x points (5.6% cash equivalent return in our book) vs. SPG Luxury 6x points (4.5% in our book and offering more flexibility due to the valuable airline miles transfer). In general, Amex Hilton Aspire packs more value in our opinion, but which to pick actually heavily depends on which frequent guest program you are more loyal to.
To see how Amex SPG Luxury Card competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex SPG Luxury, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Amex SPG Luxury, with the annual $300 Marriott credits and the anniversary free night, is such a great card to keep without ever spending a dime on, even for travelers that only stay at Marriott portfolio hotels just a few times a year. For travelers that frequent Marriott, this card's 6x points on Marriott purchases, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, are all worth looking into. It is currently rated as one of Best Credit Cards for Perks.
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